Dwyane Wade produces another ‘moment’ when Heat needed it most in Game 2

Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat watches his shot in the third quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers during Game Two of the first round of the 2018 NBA Playoff at Wells Fargo Center on April 16, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Heat defeated the 76ers 113-103. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Dwyane Wade doesn’t start games anymore. He doesn’t play 30-plus minutes anymore. But in his 15th NBA season, he still has moments.

And Wade had a moment — actually a few moments — in Monday’s huge 113-103 win over the Sixers to bring the first-round series to Miami tied 1-1. The 36-year-old carried Miami with 28 points on 11-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in 26 minutes to add to his long list of memorable playoff performances.

“I saw moments,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when asked about Wade’s impact Monday. “That’s what defines Dwyane Wade. We’ve seen that so much before over his career. He’s not going to be logging the 40 minutes a game like he used to when I coached him a few years ago. But in these compact minutes, he can settle the group with his championship level experience just to add a little bit of calm for some of our young guys.”

Wade did more than that, with his 28 points marking the most scored by a reserve in a playoff game in Heat history. After finishing with 11 points on seven shots in a Game 1 loss, he knew he wanted to be more aggressive Monday and that approach worked.

Wade was efficient and effective in the midrange, making 7-of-8 shots from that area. He was 4-of-7 from inside the paint.

“It was kind of knowing the shots I was going to be able to take by the way they were defending and just coming out and taking them and then getting into a rhythm from there, not looking back,” Wade said of his approach Monday, with the Heat off Tuesday before Thursday’s Game 3 in Miami. “The second half, knowing they were going to key on me a little bit, it was about moving the ball and making the right passes until your opportunity.

“I’ve been here before many times and I definitely came in here with an aggressive mindset. I was going to be aggressive tonight no matter what because I knew the way they played us last game. I felt I had some good [looks]. I shot seven shots last game and I made sure I was more aggressive than that.”

Miami was just a better team with Wade on the court, as he finished with a team-best plus-minus of plus-16 in Game 2. The Heat outscored the Sixers by 33.9 points per 100 possessions with Wade playing, but were outscored by 9.6 points per 100 possessions when Wade was on the bench Monday.

Some of Wade’s finest moments came in the fourth quarter when the momentum was on Philadelphia’s side. With the Sixers on a 21-7 run to cut the Heat’s lead to two points, Wade entered with 4:15 to play in the game and immediately got a breakaway dunk off his own steal, recorded an assist on a James Johnson dunk, grabbed a huge offensive rebound to keep a critical possession alive that ended with a Goran Dragic made jumper and hit a big 22-foot fadeaway jumper with 47 seconds to play.

That three-minute, 28 second-stretch led by Wade pushed the Heat’s lead from two to eight to seal the win. Sixers coach Brett Brown called Wade’s steal that began this spurt the game’s “one defining play.”

“I watched that play go down early in the game when I was on the bench and I was in the game,” Wade said about that steal. “I told myself if they do that play later, I’m going to steal it because I could see the pressure we were putting on the elbow guy and where that pass needed to go. It gave me a little time to sneak behind. I definitely took a chance. But I thought it was a good gamble.”

It’s one of the many good gambles Wade has taken in his NBA career. And the Heat took a smart low-risk, high-reward gamble of their own at this year’s trade deadline, when they re-acquired Wade by sending a 2024 second-round pick to the Cavaliers on Feb. 8.

Even late in his career, the three-time NBA champion is still producing moments.

“I don’t know,” Spoelstra said when asked how much longer Wade will be able to take over games. “I’m enjoying just every minute of this. We’ve been through every stage of our pro careers together. I don’t know how long this will last. That’s why I want to enjoy it now. I want to make the most of these moments. It’s fun having him back part of the family. It just feels normal. Then again, it’s not the same role, it’s not 2009 Dwyane.”

Then Spoelstra brought up a line from Toby Keith’s “As Good as I Once Was” that reminded him of Wade.

“I always say that country song, “I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.”

That line held true Monday.

“It’s just in my DNA. I love the stage,” Wade said after adding another memorable playoff performance to his resume. “As I’ve said multiple times, I play this game for this moment. Last night sitting in your room trying to think what you can do, what you can bring to this group. Those are times that players who aren’t playing this game anymore, those are moments they miss.

“And then to come out and respond. It’s definitely a gene thing with me. I love it. You’re not always going to be able to do it, but for the most part to be able to come through for your team when they need you to, that feels good. The reason I was brought here was for a game like this.”

[…] he has scored 39 points on 15-of-25 shooting, with 11 rebounds and seven assists, including his throwback 28-point performance Monday in Game 2 against Philadelphia that helped the Heat even the series. He has played a total […]

[…] tonight’s Game 3 against Philadelphia (7 p.m.) will be special because Wade is coming off a 28-point performance that helped the Miami tie the series. Wade shot 11-of-16 as the Heat held off Philadelphia, […]